


Caregiver

by lopingloup



Series: Whumptober 2018 [30]
Category: Castlevania (Cartoon)
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Aftermath of Violence, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Blood Drinking, Broken Bones, Canon-Typical Violence, Carmilla (Castlevania) is Her Own Warning, Collars, Enemies to Friends, Fear, Gen, Hector (castlevania) is a vampire, Hurt/Comfort, Magic, POV Alucard | Adrian Tepes | Arikado Genya, Shapeshifting, Vampires, Whump, alucard as a wolf, fluff at the end, forgemasters, not graphic, prisoner hector, protective alucard, sorta - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-11-09 09:20:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20851085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lopingloup/pseuds/lopingloup
Summary: Alucard finds a hurt and bloody vampire abandoned on his doorstep with a note from Carmilla. The former Forgemaster is broken and terrified and Alucard does not have the patience for this.





	Caregiver

**Author's Note:**

  * For [InkRanOut](https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkRanOut/gifts).

> Soooooo this is the second to last instalment of Whumptober 2018 (FINALLY IM SORRY OK) and I kind of cheated *hides*. I mentioned to a few people that 'Caregiver' would be a long darkfic in The Dragon Prince fandom but well, heck, I was determined to get the last of these damn things written before A WHOLE YEAR had passed, so here we are with my smol, cheater fic. Whoopsie! Also, I fell into the Castlevania fandom ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ (Do i need more fandoms?? hell no. Do i got another one anyways?? i sure do!!). Hector is a precious child and my fav and therefore he goes through hell in this fic. Apologies in advance.
> 
> Many thanks to InkRanOut for their wonderful friendship and mutual squealing over Castlevania, U THE BEST BUD <3 And thanks to ImperialDragon for their enduring support and betaing, although all mistakes are mine in this one >.< (if you notice any glaring errors, do let me know).
> 
> Anyways, hope you cool peeps enjoy and aren't mad at me for the lack of the promised longfic (its currently around 20k. I despair) - I do intend to finish it sometime eep <3 ALSO, i have actually finished the very last whumptober prompt, Showdown, so i will post that very soon, either today or tomorrow :)

Alucard didn’t hear the man’s arrival, but he heard the thud of a body hitting the stone steps at the front of the castle. Teleporting to the door, Alucard grimaced at the reek of old blood and sweat as he stared down at the vampire sprawled, unconscious, at the base of the staircase. Magic must have brought the vampire here, Alucard could feel the air humming with it, and it was clear that the male couldn’t have even dragged himself up the castle steps, let alone walk to the castle unaided.

Alucard hissed out at the cool, still evening and dragged a hand through his rumpled hair, resenting this interruption. He’d been occupied with rebinding Trevor’s books, scores of which had been ruined by demonic blood, or else just crumbled from age and neglect. He didn’t have the patience for- whatever _this_ was.

Stalking down the stairs, he flicked his fingers so that his sword hovered at his shoulder as he nudged the vampire’s ribs with the toe of his boot, suspicious of an ambush. But no warriors leapt out of the treeline or shot arrows at him and the vampire at his feet only groaned. Frustrated, Alucard put his boot to the vampire’s curled shoulder and gave him a harsh push, rolling the male onto his back and revealing a sharp, harrowed face with one eye swollen shut, the vampire’s face tight with pain as he groaned quietly. Alucard didn’t recognise him, with his too-thin body and matted, shoulder-length hair, black with filth and dried blood.

A glint of metal in the faint moonlight caught Alucard’s attention and he crouched down, his sword still hovering steadily at his side, to roughly grasp the vampire by the jaw, Alucard’s long nails dimpling the pallid skin. Alucard tugged the male’s jaw up, eliciting a pained whine, so that he could properly examine the thick, metal collar clamped around the vampire’s neck, frowning at it.

“Please,” the vampire rasped and Alucard frowned harder. The vampire’s shaking hand lifted and fumbled at the collar. He was trying to unlock an odd cylinder attached to it, Alucard realised. He knocked the clumsy fingers away and twisted the latch, finding a piece of rolled parchment snugly curled inside the metal container. “It’s…it’s for you,” the vampire gasped, his arm falling to his side. His breathing was harsh and wet and Alucard, sickened, got to his feet to unroll the parchment. This bizarre situation unnerved him, but he didn’t let it show on his face.

LORD ALUCARD,

THIS CREATURE CREATED YOUR FATHER’S DEMONIC ARMY, SLAUGHTERING COUNTLESS OF YOUR PRECIOUS HUMANS. PLEASE ENJOY MY SMALL GIFT,

~ YOUR FRIEND, CARMILLA.

Alucard stared at the stark note for several long minutes. Carmilla, as far as Alucard knew, was just one of Dracula’s generals. Presumably, she’d abandoned Dracula before Alucard, Trevor and Sypha had arrived, and that must be why she was sending sycophantic ‘gifts’ to Dracula’s son. But this creature- _this_ pathetic vampire lying on the steps, was the Forgemaster responsible for creating Dracula’s army? Responsible for the foul, mindless destruction Alucard had witnessed first-hand in the human cities and which had so appalled him? Alucard had been led to believe that both Dracula’s Forgemasters had been human, but that was easily changed. Anger simmering inside him, Alucard crushed the parchment in his hand and threw it away with a snarl.

“_You_,” he snapped. The vampire inhaled sharply and curled up onto his side, his bloodied tunic failing to hide his shaking. He didn’t try to protest or get away but just lay there. “Fuck,” Alucard hissed. He wanted to hate this foul man, the cause of so much pain, but the creature cowering in the dirt was too pitiful to be properly hated. Someone had clearly starved and then beat him ruthlessly, and likely multiple times over, if it had left the vampire looking like this. And perhaps that was why the vampire had been turned, so that he would survive such brutal treatment. The thought of killing this pathetic creature made Alucard curl his lip. It wasn’t honourable. Besides, the male might be of some use; either to provide information on this Carmilla, or else through his skills as a Forgemaster.

Closing his eyes for a moment, Alucard tried to shed some of his frustration and, when he reached down to grudgingly collect the tense vampire into his arms, it was with less roughness than he felt the vampire deserved. Curled up with his hands near his face, the vampire wouldn’t look at him and seemed to be barely breathing with how tightly he held himself in Alucard’s arms. Alucard sighed.

Clasping the too-light vampire tighter, Alucard teleported into the castle and up the stone staircases, speeding along the hallways until he reached the kitchen, where he unceremoniously deposited the vampire in front of the fire. The vampire coughed when he was dropped, his fingers curling into the rug as he cringed away from Alucard like a kicked dog. He didn’t look at Alucard but kept his head down, his hair completely hiding his face.

Alucard shook his head in equal parts disgust, irritation and pity and moved away to snatch up the pot for boiling water, filling it up and hanging it over the fire. He didn’t talk to the vampire on the floor as he dragged over the metal bathtub and started filling it, keen to get the Forgemaster clean if only to lessen the stench of death and neglect. By the time the bath was ready, the vampire had stopped shaking but still hadn’t moved from where Alucard had dropped him.

“Get into the water,” Alucard said sharply, when the vampire failed to get into the bath. The vampire flinched and tried to sit up when Alucard ordered it, but immediately curled an arm around his ribs, gasping in pain. “Mother above,” Alucard cursed tiredly and dropped to one knee beside the vampire, who recoiled from him fearfully. “Have you got a name?” Alucard asked as he reluctantly wrapped an arm around the filthy vampire’s back and helped him sit up, before beginning to roughly disrobe the man.

“H-hector.”

Alucard just hummed as he unclothed Hector, leaving the vampire wearing nothing but that cruel, metal collar. Ignoring how Hector pulled away from him, he indifferently lifted the vampire up and put him in the cast iron bath, the warm water sloshing up the sides. Once there, Hector didn’t move except to curl around his ribs, his face tight with pain. Without clothes, the vampire looked far worse, his ribs obviously misshapen under his skin, one of his ankles obviously broken, and all of him painfully thin and bruised. And now that the vampire’s face wasn’t completely hidden by his filthy hair, Alucard could see that Hector’s right eye was swollen almost entirely shut and Alucard winced to think of the force it would have taken to cause a wound like that on a vampire. Looking at the ragged mess of a man, Alucard realised that _he_ was going to have to be the one to wash, dry, and dress this stranger he hated on principal, and he hissed a breath through his teeth as he went to fetch the soap. This was sorely testing his patience.

*

“You must have been turned only recently,” Alucard observed as he dropped the freshly washed and clothed vampire onto a spare bed. Alucard doubted that Hector could have become a vampire any earlier than the last few months, considering how weak he was, but then, Alucard had been at least part-vampire for the entirety of his life, so he perhaps wasn’t the best judge of another vampire’s strength.

“Yes,” Hector murmured, barely audible. He wouldn’t look at Alucard and his shoulder was curled up protectively, like Alucard might attack at any moment. When Alucard had washed Hector’s filthy hair, he’d been taken aback to find a pale grey beneath a slick-feeling, black oil and the grime, and that curtain of hair hung wetly now, trembling slightly as the vampire shook. Some of Alucard’s irritation fell away into weariness and he pushed some of his hair out of his face to frown down at Hector. This man was already broken; Alucard hating him would do no good. Alucard had killed his own father for the sake of his beloved mother, and he hoped she’d approve of his seeking to mend this vampire rather than destroy him, despite all the death and evil Hector had wrought on the world.

“Be calm,” he said reluctantly. “I won’t harm you.”

Hector stilled and, after a long moment, looked up nervously through his hair, his uninjured eye seeking Alucard out hesitantly, the iris a stunning blue. “Do you mean it?” he said, softly.

_He’s little more than a child_, Alucard thought, resigned to burying his remaining anger. “Yes, I mean it.” Alucard pulled the covers up over Hector, pausing when Hector flinched in pain. “Ankle or ribs?” he queried, as he gently set the blanket down.

Hector exhaled on a bitter laugh with a wince. “Both,” he muttered. Alucard inclined his head and left without another word.

He returned a minute later with a pitcher of blood, a cup and a cloth. Hector’s eyes went wide and hungry at the scent of blood, even though it was cold, as Alucard brought it over.

“Where- did you…?” Hector tried to say, his hunger creasing into a frown even as his canines lengthened. Considering the vampire was clearly starved and only a youngling at that, Alucard was taken aback that Hector could form words at all.

“It comes from my sheep,” Alucard said.

Hector pulled back, surprising Alucard enough that he raised an eyebrow. “You killed them?” Hector asked in a small voice.

“No,” Alucard said, staring at the young vampire in confusion. “I take only a small amount of blood from them. I have a whole herd, it does them no harm.”

Hector exhaled in apparent satisfaction and Alucard, bemused by Hector’s questions, filled a glass with the blood and offered it to him. “It won’t suit you as well as human blood,” he explained as he helped Hector sip it. “But it will help you heal.”

Hector hungrily devoured the glass and gladly accepted a second. “Thank you,” he said quietly when Alucard drew away, wiping Hector’s lips and chin with a cloth.

“This is not quite how I expected my evening to go,” Alucard said, considering Hector, who was now looking far brighter and not so much like the emaciated half-dead creature that had been abandoned outside Alucard’s front door, though his eye was still badly swollen. “Who was it that beat you like this?” Alucard asked.

Hector blinked and ducked his head low, his submission clear whether it was intentional or not. “Mistress Carmilla,” he murmured, before glancing around the room, like she might be lurking just out of sight.

Alucard studied him. “It was Carmilla herself or merely on her orders?” he pressed. “To hurt you like this must have taken time.” He said it flatly and Hector flinched.

“It was just her,” he all but whispered, eying Alucard in fearful glances, like Alucard might not believe him and decide to beat him for it.

“A cruel woman,” was all Alucard said, setting the blood-smeared glass down. “Rest. Your body will start to heal and it will be painful. You should sleep while you can.”

“Alright,” Hector said with a small, wary nod and gingerly moved a little lower in the bed, curling his thin fingers around the edge of the covers, still keeping an eye on Alucard with his one working eye.

Alucard picked up the pitcher, thinking that Hector might try to drink it all and make himself sick, and left the room with a nod. Teleporting back to the kitchen, he set the jug in the cold store and took a steadying breath. He was restless and frustrated, angry at Hector and angry at the situation he’d been forced into, even as he wouldn’t allow himself to take it out on Hector himself. His wolf itched under his skin and Alucard gave into his animal side, dropping to the floor to land on four paws. Shaking out his fur, Alucard bounded out of the kitchen, skidding down the wooden halls and breaking out finally into cool night air and utter solitude. He might have decided to spare this pitiful excuse for a vampire but that didn’t mean he had to like it.

*

Alucard returned to the castle as the sun was beginning to hover just under the horizon, threatening to rise and begin another day. The light wouldn’t harm him, but Alucard was tired and, unwanted guest or no, he wanted to return home now that he’d exhausted his wolf and settled his frayed nerves.

He padded in through a back entrance and trotted up the stairs, too weary to bother transforming from his wolf-form to his vampiric one. He idly headed past the room he’d left Hector in, but was pulled up short by the absence of Hector’s scent and, concerned despite himself, Alucard nosed the door open and found the room empty.

Huffing, Alucard knew that he wouldn’t be able to sleep until he had found the annoying Forgemaster and deposited him back into the guest room. And perhaps Alucard would lock the door this time, since he doubted Hector was either strong enough or old enough to be able to teleport.

Following Hector’s scent, Alucard padded back down the long corridor the way he’d come, only to hear footsteps and the sound of laboured breathing approaching up the stairs and he paused. Hector appeared after a long moment, struggling up the steps with one hand clenched around the handrail to help him limp upwards, the other hand clutching his damaged ribs. One ankle hung deformed and unusable and Hector clearly couldn’t put any weight on it.

Hector stopped at the top of the stairs, panting and sweating, and he didn’t notice Alucard’s wolf-form stood waiting silently until he lifted his head a moment later. Shock made him twitch, his lips parting and undamaged eye widening as he stared, and Alucard waited for Hector to back up in fear. But Hector managed to surprise Alucard by clumsily dropping to his knees at the top of the stairs, pain flitting over his face as he did so, and then held out a hand to Alucard.

“Hello,” Hector murmured, still staring. “You’re beautiful, aren’t you.” Alucard stared back at Hector, his ears flicking atop his head. He hadn’t expected this response from the fearful young vampire, but he found himself relieved to not have to deal with anymore of Hector’s terror.

As Hector studied Alucard’s wolf-form, Alucard saw Hector’s lips curl upwards for the first time since he’d arrived and Alucard cocked his head curiously. The appearance of an apex predator didn’t usually make people, vampire or human, smile so softly, and yet Hector was.

“It’s alright,” Hector murmured, his hand still shakily outstretched towards Alucard’s wolf-form. “I won’t hurt you.” Alucard huffed. The idea of Hector being capable of harming Alucard was ridiculous in the extreme, but he acquiesced to Hector’s request for Alucard to come closer and ambled forwards.

Alucard was almost certain that Hector hadn’t yet realised that this wolf-form was only Alucard in another shape and his suspicion was confirmed when Hector said, “Are you Alucard’s pet?” as Alucard nudged the tips of Hector’s fingers with his muzzle, licking over Hector’s soapy skin with his rough tongue. Alucard tasted blood there and he frowned inwardly, only now noticing that Hector’s fingernails – one of a vampire’s crucial weapons – were ragged, like they’d been torn away, and one was bleeding sluggishly. Alucard licked Hector again and Hector’s gentle smile slowly widened.

“I’m alright,” Hector said quietly. “Your master’s been taking care of me.” Hector’s smile slowly slid away and Alucard, to his own surprise, was sorry to see it go. “I don’t know what he wants from me,” Hector confided quietly. He shifted his weight, wincing in pain, and Alucard found himself again split between irritation and pity. Why had Hector been wandering the castle instead of resting, as Alucard had told him to?

Hector reached up slowly to stroke the ruff of fur at Alucard’s neck and Alucard shivered at the touch, leaning into it. He hadn’t been touched by another person since the day Trevor and Sypha had left, several months ago, and he’d forgotten how good it felt, to feel another person’s warmth close by.

“Do you think he wants another army making for him?” Hector asked. He was chewing his lip, his gaze far away and painful. Alucard butted Hector’s shoulder gently and Hector absentmindedly resumed stroking him. “One to fight the other vampires, maybe?” Hector continued. “Mistress Carmilla made it clear that Alucard believed himself the saviour of humans. If only I were still human,” Hector murmured. “Perhaps he would protect me. Or else, if I were still human, at least I would have died a long time ago.”

Hector looked sadly into Alucard’s eyes, perhaps the first time Hector had looked directly at Alucard for longer than a few seconds. His swollen eye truly did look painful and Alucard nudged himself closer to Hector’s side, though he stayed well away from Hector’s damaged ribs, before settling down to lie at Hector’s side, putting his head on Hector’s too-thin thigh.

“You really are a lovely animal,” Hector said, rubbing behind Alucard’s ear just how he liked it, making him feel like he was melting into the floor. He rumbled happily in his chest. “I wonder if Alucard keeps any other animals. It wouldn’t be so terrible to be trapped here if I had such kind company.” Hector said. “You know, I thought once that only humans could be cruel; that vampires were purer beings, honest and beautiful and simple. More like animals. Dracula was always so respectful of my work and I believed that he’d never lie to me.” Hector stiffened. “But I was wrong to trust anyone. Only animals can really love you. Everyone else just wants something from you, and they never give anything back.”

A hot tear splashed onto Alucard’s fur and Alucard whined softly and nudged his muzzle against Hector’s hand. Hector inhaled shakily and didn’t speak again, just stroked Alucard’s fur gently.

As Hector had been speaking, the last of Alucard’s resentment disappeared entirely and he found himself feeling nothing but protective pity for the damaged man. Any wrongdoing had been severely punished and, really, it hadn’t been Hector’s fault. The man, only a boy at heart, had been hurt badly by humans, used by Alucard’s father, and then brutalised by Carmilla. It was Dracula who’d given his Forgemasters’ their orders and sent the demonic hoards to tear apart entire cities to assuage his grief, and his guilt. The only true person at fault was already dead, and Hector was just a broken pawn, friendless and discarded by Carmilla as soon as he was no longer functioning. There was no justice in Alucard being angry at Hector; they’d both been hurt and they were both alone now.

After several minutes had passed, Hector curled up gingerly on his side, pressing himself closer to Alucard’s warmth, curling his arm over Alucard’s back. Alucard’s wolf-form licked Hector’s tear-damp cheek and stayed near to him, vowing that, once they’d both slept, he would tell Hector that he was forgiven, and that he could stay or go as he pleased. But until then, as he was falling asleep, Alucard silently promised himself that he would let no-one else, human or vampire, hurt Hector again.

**Author's Note:**

> Soooooo am I horrible to Hector or I am *horrifically* horrible to Hector?? (He does get snuggles at the end tho right?? i fixed it, right??) :D pls let me know your thoughts!! :)


End file.
